Participant Funding Program Decision – Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Ltd.'s Near Surface Disposal Facility Project

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) announced on March 11, 2019, that it was offering a total of $150,000 through its Participant Funding Program (PFP) to assist Indigenous peoples, members of the public and stakeholders with the review of the environmental assessment and licence application and with their participation in a future Commission hearing process for Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) Ltd.’s near surface disposal facility (NSDF) project.

Background

Participant funding was made available by the CNSC:

• for the provision of new, distinctive and valuable information to the CNSC through informed and topic-specific interventions
• to assist interested parties in the review of the environmental assessment and licence application and the Commission hearing process for CNL’s NSDF project

A funding review committee (FRC), independent of the CNSC, was established to review the funding applications received by the CNSC’s PFP administrator and to make recommendations on the allocation of up to $150,000 for eligible applicants. The FRC has the flexibility to recommend funding that exceeds the total amount allocated if it feels that doing so will bring value-added information to the Commission.

The FRC members were:

• Paul Scott, retired regional director, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Vancouver office
• Steve Burgess, retired director, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
• Bruce Young, retired director, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency 

On June 14 and July 4, 2019, the FRC met to review 13 PFP applications received by the CNSC, requesting a total of $414,647.80.

Eligibility and funding criteria

For more information about participant funding and how it works, including details on eligibility and funding criteria, please read the PFP guide.

CNSC participant funding decision

The CNSC has carefully considered the FRC’s recommendations on the allocation of participant funding for CNL’s NSDF project and has approved the reimbursement of up to $192,328.92 to the following recipients:

Applicant	Maximum amount of available funding
William Turner, David Raman and James Walker	$8,617.00
Canadian Nuclear Workers Council	$7,000.00
Algonquins of Ontario	$32,240.00
Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council	$33,500.00
Nuclear Waste Watch	$9,972.00
Canadian Environmental Law Association	$14,209.22
Northwatch	$2,793.00
Ottawa Riverkeeper	$20,188.50
Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County	$2,500.00
Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation	$35,509.20
Métis Nation of Ontario	$25,800.00
Total	$192,328.92

Additional information:
Adam Zenobi
Participant Funding Program Administrator, CNSC
Tel.: 613-415-2814
Email: pfp@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca